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1950s Football Coach Mickey Anderson Passes At 93

Mickey Anderson, head football coach at Pasadena City College from 1954-1956, will be remembered for both his athletic talents and his ability to bring the best out of his student-athletes as a long-time coach in both football and track and field. Anderson, who retired in 1980, passed away at age 93 on April 26.

Anderson became PCC head football coach in 1954, the year that Muir College and Pasadena Junior College merged as one campus. The first three PCC Lancers teams (PJC played as the Bulldogs) under Anderson's direction won 23 of 30 games. Prior to being named head coach, Anderson was the backfield coach on Bob Blackman's 1953 national champion PJC squad. He later was an assistant on the 1966 Junior Rose Bowl team.

Among Anderson's top players were All-American Hillard Hill and John Hardy, two of the college's great ends.

Anderson would become a head coach of the PCC men's track and field team as he guided the accomplishments of sprinter Dave Morris, the nation's top community college runner in the 100-yard and 220-yard dashes. In 1962, Morris set a state record in the 220 dash of 20.3 seconds and the school's record of 9.5 in the 100-yard event. Anderson also coached Walt Butler, state champion in the 120 hurdles.

As an athlete in 1935, Anderson was a baseball teammate of college immortal Jackie Robinson at Muir Tech (now John Muir High). A 3-sport athlete, he was the star of the 1935 CIF Southern Section football championship game, scoring his team's 14 points. Anderson was later inducted into the Muir Hall of Fame.

Anderson played quarterback at USC from 1938-40, participating in the 1939 Rose Bowl for the Trojans. As a track sprinter, Anderson was an All-American in the 100 and 220. He finished third in the 220 at the 1940 NCAA Championships and was a member of three national champion USC track teams.

In 1946, Anderson briefly played pro football for the Hollywood Bears of the Pacific Coast Football League.

Anderson returned to PCC in October, 2003 for the 50th reunion of the '53 national champion football team. He was part of a halftime ceremony as he was saluted along with a group of '53 alumni by the Robinson Stadium crowd.

An Orange County resident in his retirement, Anderson is survived by his wife of 69 years, Sue, sons Mike, Chris, Richard and Peter, four grandchildren and one great-grandson.